


Superstars of Panem

by RoseRye



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23251804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseRye/pseuds/RoseRye
Summary: How bad can it be? You audition for a singing contest because you're broke and all the finalists get some money. It's not like you'll become popular, gain a fan base, fall for another contestant and maybe even have a chance of winning. I mean what are the odds of all that happening?
Relationships: Annie Cresta/Finnick Odair, Katniss Everdeen/Peeta Mellark
Comments: 6
Kudos: 39





	1. Shallow

**Author's Note:**

> I am not Suzanne Collins and do not own the Hunger Games. The singing competition in this fic is not based on any one particular show and the judges are supposed to be in character with the Hunger Games, so any resemblance between them and any judges on actual reality singing shows are bad writing on my part, honest.

Katniss is annoyed. There are two reasons for this, one is that despite it being his idea to introduce 'Shallow' from 'A Star is Born' into their set, Gale came in slightly sharp yet again and two is that the woman with the distractingly bright pink hair noticed and visibly winced. Fortunately Katniss is able to channel her anger into the song as she belts out the wooah section. She has to close her eyes and concentrate on the notes and when she opens them, the pink haired woman is gone.

"Hey Darius, everything okay?" Katniss asks the barman, as he hurries over while she packs up her guitar.

"You should get to Cray's office now, I heard raised voices and it sounded like Gale," he warns.

"Fuck, are you kidding me?" Katniss snatches her guitar case up and runs towards the staff door at the back of the bar. The manager Cray is an asshole, but Darius indicated this might become a regular gig and Gale is famous for his short fuse.

"Yeah, well we don't need this, so fuck you Cray," she hears Gale yell as he slams open the door from the back and storms through it into the bar, almost ramming into Katniss in the process.

"What the hell have you done Gale?" Katniss spits.

"Outside." Gale jestures as he powers on right past her.

She catches up with him in the car park by his battered old pickup. "You need to get back in there Gale and apologise," she yells, "I can't afford to lose this shot at a regular gig." 

"Never going to happen Katniss." Gale angrily replies. "He tried to give me less than half what we agreed, called me a liar for correcting him and said he expected nothing less from dirty, thieving Seam rats like us."

"Damn it" Katniss shouts, kicking a handy nearby discarded bottle top. She kicks it straight into the side of an expensive looking pink stiletto that matches perfectly to its owners hair.

"My, my," the pink haired woman says, "temper tantrums are so very unbecoming."

"Who the hell are you?" Gale snarls.

The pink haired woman lets out a weary sigh, "why does no-one teach proper manners anymore? It really isn't too much to ask." She walks up to Gale, holds out her hand in a way that leaves him looking unsure whether she expects him to shake it or kiss it and announces, "I'm Effie Trinket, mentor support to Haymitch Abernathy on Superstars of Panem." She smiles at them, clearly assuming they will be impressed.

Gale lets out a dismissive "ha" while Katniss just scowls.

"Well," Effie gasps, "I've only met one person with less charm than the two of you," she turns to Katniss and adds "and fortunately, you're exactly what he's looking for." She takes a card and holds it out, "this will get you straight through to the reaping stage of Superstars of Panem and in front of the judges, no need to do any of the preliminary unfilmed audition stages."

"Why would we do that?" Katniss snorts, "it's just a fake TV show."

"It's quite real, I assure you. The viewers votes really do determine who wins and if a major deal with Snow records for the winner, plus the chance for the whole of Panem to hear you sing isn't enough for you..." Effie pauses for dramatic effect. "The final twelve get $1500 per show and $900 for the results shows on top, plus additional fees for the group commercials." Effie smirks into the stunned silence that follows. "Think about it," she adds, "you can audition as a duo if you'd prefer." She pushes the card into Katniss' hand and walks away. "It's in two days," she adds over her shoulder.


	2. Music snob

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss and Gale disagree about auditioning (no surprise there). Peeta is not in this chapter, but he will appear soon.

"How are you even considering this?" Gale paces back and forth in the front room of his family's house, where Katniss goes to see him the next day. "You said it yourself, it's a fake show, it's manufactured bullshit. All it does is line rich people's pockets while proper musicians like us have to scrape for every penny. 

"Come on Gale, it's not that bad, I watched some old shows online last night and there are some really good singers on there, a lot of them get to play their own instruments... "

"It's a production line for mediocrity," Gale interrupts, "and there is no way in hell I'm taking part."

Katniss throws her hands in the air in frustration. "I'm not expecting to make the finals or anything but we're good and if we can get some screen time we can use it to help us book more gigs, we could charge more, maybe even get a manager."

"Or we'd be humiliated on a national scale and get laughed out of every decent music venue because we'd have zero credibility left." Gale yells.

"You're such a music snob," Katniss retorts, "think of Rory, Vick and Posey, if we can get some money out of this, it'll help them. I need to look after Prim, she wants to go to medical school, she'd be an amazing doctor, she deserves that chance and scholarships won't cover it all."

Right on cue Posey bounds in and hugs Gale. Sensing a potential ally, Katniss goes for emotional blackmail. "I bet Posey would love to see you on Superstars of Panem, right Posey."

Posey's face lights up, "You're going to be on Superstars of Panem? This is the best news ever" she squeals as she beams at Gale. 

Katniss knows that Gale's major weakness is his little sister and he can't say no to her, so she drives home her victory. "We're auditioning in front of the judges tomorrow, want to come along?"

"Yes, yes, yes, yes." Posey chants as she punches the air and does a mini dance. Gale scowls at Katniss when Posey isn't looking but says nothing, so Katniss knows she's won this one.

the next day Katniss, Gale, Posey, Prim and Rory all tumble out of Hazel's car which Gale has borrowed for the day. Posey and Prim are thrilled and insist on a group selfie in front of the giant Superstars of Panem logo outside the local arena where the auditions are being held. They then make Katniss and Gale have a photo together, although they both draw the line at posing with their guitars.

They all troop inside where there is a short queue and surprisingly few people.

"Where is everyone?" Posey says loudly. A woman with a headset over her green ombre hair smiles at her and confides, "the big queues are at the early audition stages with the producers, the judges only see a few auditions per district." 

Posey looks at the woman in wide eyed awe as Katniss hands her the card Effie gave her. The woman glances at it, pauses and then takes a harder look at the card and then back at Katniss. She turns away and mutters something into her headset. Whatever the reply, the woman turns back with a large smile and says "I'm Octavia, follow me."


	3. An Effie special

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Katniss gets an unasked for 'treat'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay with this chapter, I thought I'd get lots of writing done during lockdown but instead I've done almost none, it squashed all the creativity out of me.
> 
> There are a couple of lines from the Hunger Games in this chapter which I fully acknowledge are not in any way mine, however much I wish they were.

Octavia takes them down a couple of bland looking corridors to a room with a sign saying 'Superstars of Panem reaping contestants' on the double doors. She tells the others to go in but holds Katniss back. "We've got a quick stop to make before you join them," she grins. Katniss reluctantly follows Octavia, uncomfortable at being separated from the others. 

"You're in for such a treat," Octavia squeals, as they reach another door marked 'Wardrobe, Hair and Makeup'. 

Katniss glances down at herself slightly mortified, she thought she'd dressed well for today. Prim had helped her pick out a short dark denim skirt, black form fitting top and ankle boots, which even had a heel as Prim insisted she would look hot in them. With her dad's brown leather jacket on, her dark hair styled into a low side braid by Prim and with some light makeup, Katniss had felt comfortable but also confident, much of which was quickly evaporating.

Octavia pushes open the door and ushers Katniss in. It's like a mini hair salon, there are a few chairs in front of mirrors surrounded by products and it smells of hairspray and the burnt metal tang of hairdryers. The room is otherwise empty, like she's just missed the main bustle of activity.

"Cinna," Octavia calls, "I've brought you an Effie special."

The other door in the room opens and a man who must be Cinna enters. He wears a simple black shirt and trousers but has metallic gold eyeliner, delicately applied which makes him look stylish but not showy.

"Well" Cinna says as he looks Katniss over, "and who do we have here?"

"This is Katniss." Octavia announces, "she's been scouted by Effie for Haymitch to see."

"Then you must have quite the singing talent," Cinna smiles, "Effie is very particular and she's been working with Haymitch for a while, they have an ear for who is likely to succeed."

Katniss feels she should say something but she isn't used to compliments and doesn't know how to respond.

Cinna gently gestures for her to sit and offers to take her jacket. Instinctively Katniss tightens her grip on her already tightly folded arms. 

"It was my father's" Katniss mutters.

"I'll give it back after we're finished," he promises, "I'll put it right here on this hook."

Katniss reluctantly shrugs off the jacket and hands it to Cinna, she watches as he hangs it up and gently smoothes the leather.

"That's what I love most about clothes," he smiles, "when they do more than just keep you warm or even make you look good, it's when they mean something, when they have a story to tell."

He pulls back the chair and Katniss sits.

"This will feel like a lot of makeup, but trust me, you're going to be under some harsh studio lights and on camera, this will look like a light touch."

Fifteen minutes later, Katniss is taken by Octavia back to the contestants room where they left Gale and the others. Her makeup feels heavy on her face but she thinks she can trust Cinna, that he isn't someone who would ever make her look stupid, so she tries not to touch her face like he told her.

As Octavia ushers her into the room, she looks around for Prim. Her eyes light first on the wavy blonde hair of a guy with his back to her and oversized headphones on, then on a blonde girl who is nervously picking at the skin round her nails, before she finally spots the blonde braid she was looking for, styled to match her own, bobbing excitedly as she talks to a woman who is filming her. Katniss feels the anger well up inside her. How dare they shove their cameras in the face of her sister.


	4. The first interview

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The audition process continues...

"Who said you could film my sister?" Katniss glares at the cameraman. "She's only fifteen, don't you need a consent form?" 

"You didn't all sign forms when you arrived?" The woman Prim was speaking to stands up and frowns as Prim shakes her head, "can't the registration team do anything right?" She looks at Katniss, sighs and apologises. "Sorry, they shouldn't have let anyone in here without signing their forms first." 

The woman unclips a radio from the belt of her fitted black trousers and sharply calls for assistance, "Cressida to Flavius". 

"Flavius here" crackles the reply. 

"Flavius can you tell me why am I standing in the contestants room with a group of kids who haven't signed release forms?" 

There is a pause on the other end of the radio. "I'm on my way right now Cressida."

"Bring a dozen forms in case you've missed anyone else," Cressida snaps before clipping the radio back to her belt and ignoring his reply.

"Sorry about that," she apologises to Katniss, "we need footage for the shows and no-one should be in this room if they can't be filmed."

"Do I have to leave?" Prim asks anxiously.

"Not if your sister signs your form and gives us an interview," Cressida smiles while raising an eyebrow to Katniss.

Katniss feels this is karma getting her for using Posey to make Gale to come to the audition. "Fine," she growls.

"Right here please," Cressida smirks as she pats the chair next to Prim. "Pollux, over there," she directs the cameraman who moves to his right and refocuses on Katniss. "Let me see," Cressida demands and Pollux steps aside. Cressida looks through the camera for what seems like an unnecessarily long time to Katniss who scowls. Cressida grins, "that's good, keep tight on her face, let's see if we can capture some of that fire."

Cressida sits opposite Katniss, next to the camera, "just look at me," she advises, "and answer me as though we're chatting."

Katniss hates chatting but doesn't think now is the best time to reveal that. Prim twists her hands anxiously next to her and Katniss takes it as a timely reminder as to why she's doing this. 'For Prim, for Prim', she chants under her breath and then plasters what she hopes isn't a too fake looking smile on her face.

"We'll start off easy," reassures Cressida. "What's your name?"

Katniss takes a deep breath to steady herself and answers, "Katniss Everdeen," in what she's pleased is a fairly normal sounding voice.

"What district are you from Katniss?"

Katniss is a little annoyed at the question, as these are the district twelve auditions, but she manages to bite back her sarcasm and answer.

"Were you born here?" Cressida asks.

"Yes, I've lived here my whole life." Katniss replies.

Cressida jestures to their instruments, "who taught you to play the guitar?" 

"My dad"

"Did he sing too?"

Katniss smiles a little sadly at the memory. "Yes, he used to take me to Quarter note club when I was little."

"Can you tell me more about Quarter note club? What was it?"

"It was a music club for pre-schoolers," Katniss reminisces , "we'd have shakers and drums and sing songs with our parents. I had an orange notebook with a smiling quarter note on the front. Peeta and I used to make up all these funny little songs together with my dad."

"Peeta?" 

Katniss is pulled out of her memories when Cressida says his name, of all the people she could have talked about today, she certainty hadn't meant to bring him up.

"We're you friends?" Cressida prompts.

"When we were little." Katniss admits.

"What happened?"

"We grew apart." Katniss responds abruptly, not enjoying this train of thought. Luckily Cressida changes the subject and asks a couple of other questions which aren't too difficult to deal with, then ends the recording.

Feeling unnerved by her first interview experience Katniss glances round the room to see if anyone was watching. She looks straight into the astonished blue eyes of Peeta Mellark


	5. Non-disclosure

Katniss stares at Peeta in shock, she hasn't seen him since the summer they finished high school and even then only from a distance. He looks good, still with those blonde waves that fall in his face, still broad shouldered and strong. A little older though, with some stubble that suits him a way that she doesn't want to think too hard about.

"Cressida, here are the forms," yells a man, whose hair is dyed an impossible shade of neon orange, as he bustles past Katniss, breaking her eye contact with Peeta.

"That one right by you for a start Flavius," Cressida nods in Katniss' direction and the man hurries back towards her and thrusts a clipboard and pen in her face. He stands directly in front of her, blocking her and Peeta from each other and Katniss can't decide whether she's relieved or annoyed. She frowns at the form.

"It's a standard release and non-disclosure form," Flavius states impatiently, "just sign and add both your name and your sister's in capitals."

Definitely annoyed, Katniss glances over the form which has the endless small print most official forms do. She sighs and tries to read a bit, before giving up and signing it, mainly to stop Flavius tapping his foot impatiently at her. He whips the clipboard out of her hand, flips a new form to the front and hands it to Gale.

Without thinking, Katniss immediately flicks her eyes back towards Peeta but he's gone. Across the room she sees a woman with aqua hair and gold tattoos above her eyebrows showing him through an unmarked door. Their eyes meet briefly as he's ushered out of the room.

"What's through that door in the corner?" Katniss blurts out.

"The auditions are in there," Prim squeaks excitedly.

"That or this is an elaborate murder plot," Gale mutters sarcastically as he signs his form, "no-one who's gone through that door has come back." He hands his form back to Flavius who takes it and winks at him, before heading back to wherever Cressida summoned him from. Gale looks bemused and Katniss suppresses her urge to laugh at him. 

"Have you seen anyone we know?" Katniss asks him in what she hopes is a casual way.

Gale looks uncomfortable and rubs his hand over the back of his neck before admitting, "I saw Madge Undersee."

"Madge?" Katniss blurts out in surprise.

"Only briefly," Gale replies defensively, "she went in just before you came back with that stuff all over your face." 

"I think Katniss looks pretty," Rosie chirps into the awkward silence that follows.

"Thanks Posey, they said it wouldn't look so much under the lights for the cameras." Katniss mumbles, pissed that the makeup now feels ten times heavier on her skin.

Cressida calls Gale over for his interview and Katniss spitefully hopes he hates it as much as she did. Prim leans her head into Katniss' shoulder, so Katniss leans in too and rests her head lightly on top of Prim's. She takes comfort in the familiar smell of Prim's hair, which she's loved since the day her baby sister was born, and feels some of the tension leave her. Katniss hums softly to help keep her mind off Peeta and to cocoon her and Prim from the rest of the room.

They sit like that for a while, even when Gale comes back from his interview and Rosie insists on playing thumb wars with him. Gale let's Rosie win a few times and then pins her thumb while she shrieks and giggles. 

"Katniss Everdeen and Gale Hawthorne?" the aqua haired woman calls "this way please." They all stand and Katniss feels numb as she gathers her things and follows the woman out of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, they sing for the judges....


End file.
